Author's note: the author gives permission for the unrestricted
reproduction of the following article, which was written for the
January/February 1994 issue of The American.

Assault on Waco

by Kevin S. Van Horn

On January 10 the trials of those few Branch Davidians who survived the
Waco Massacre begin. With their home, the Mt. Carmel complex, in ruins,
and families and friends dead, they remain stigmatized by the government
and press as dangerous, lunatic "cultists." This article is an attempt to
counter the defamation they have suffered and publicize the crimes
committed against them by the government. Given the limited space
available, I have chosen to trade breadth for depth; thus this article
will consider only the accusations made against the Davidians, the events
leading up to the ATF assault on their home, and the assault itself.

Who Were the Branch Davidians?

Immediately after the ATF assault on Mount Carmel the Federal Government
began a campaign of vilification against the Branch Davidians. They were
repeatedly portrayed in the press as dangerous, insane, bloodthirsty
fanatics. Yet this supposedly sociopathic sect had lived peacefully in
and near Waco for over half a century. Let's see what their neighbors
have to say about the Davidians.

Collective Impressions

According to the Houston Post, Gene Chapman, owner of Chapman's Fruit
Market, has nothing but kind words for the Davidians. "They're just all
nice, decent, normal people," he said. "Well, not normal."
[30]

A.L. Dreyer, an 80-yr-old farmer, owns a ranch adjoining the Mt.
Carmel property. "I've never had no trouble with them people," he said.
"I've always said if they stay on their side of the fence, I'll stay on
mine... I have no fear of those people."
[31]

The ATF's "storm trooper tactics" were "a vulgar display of power on
the part of the feds," said former Waco District Attorney Vic Feazell.
Feazell unsuccesfully prosecuted seven Branch Davidians in 1988. "We
treated them like human beings, rather than storm-trooping the place," he
told the Houston Chronicle. "They were extremely polite... They're
protective of what's theirs..."
[12]

"(T)hey were basically good people," said McLennan County Sheriff
Jack Harwell. "All of 'em were good people."
[59]

Koresh

Henry McMahon, a former Waco resident and gun store owner, described David
Koresh as a likable guy. "There was nothing out of the ordinary (about
Koresh's personality)," McMahon said, adding that Koresh was "an average
Joe."
[41]
,
[43]

"He (Koresh) is a very gentle man," said a Waco doctor who had
treated Koresh for three years prior to the ATF assault. "He is very
intelligent and articulate. They made him sound like a ruthless killer
and that's just absurd."
[18]

Gary Coker, a Waco lawyer, said he believed Koresh wouldn't hurt
anyone unless he was bothered by outsiders. "It's sort of like a
rattlesnake. Unless you step on him, he's not going to hurt anybody."
[23]

Steve Schneider

Steve Schneider emerged as a chief negotiator during the standoff, and was
considered Koresh's lieutenant. FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks called
Schneider "a cool, calm, deliberate individual." Cult Awareness Network
`deprogrammer' Rick Ross described Schneider as well-educated, and said he
was "a man with a history of deep religious conviction, honesty and
integrity."
[32]

Wayne Martin

Douglas Wayne Martin held a position of major responsibility among the
Davidians; only he and Steve Schneider ever spoke face- to-face with
federal negotiators during the siege. Martin was a 42-year-old black
lawyer and graduate of Harvard Law School. For seven years he was an
assistant professor at the North Carolina Central University School of
Law. After moving to Waco he maintained a law practice near Mount Carmel.
He had a wife and seven children.
[38]
,
[42]

Martin was viewed by many who knew him as a quiet, jovial and
religious person
[38]
. He was routinely described as professional and competent in court
[34]
.

"People may tend to dismiss this event as just a bunch of religious
fanatics, but having known Doug humanizes it for me," said Mark Morris, a
law professor at NCCU. "He was a very bright, smart, able, kind person,
and it's a real shock (Martin's death)."

"He left about a year after I got here, but he seemed to be a very
nice and personable guy," Associate Law School Dean Irving Joyner said
[38]
.

McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson said he and others who
knew Martin found it hard to believe he could have been involved in
anything so violent. "He was very friendly and quiet," said Gibson. "It
was common knowledge that he was a Davidian, but he never talked
religion."
[34]

Gary Coker, a Waco lawyer, described Martin as a kind man and a
particularly devoted father.

Waco city council member Lawrence Johnson had known Martin for five
years at the time of the assault. He described Martin as a computer whiz
and as a diligent lawyer. "I enjoyed working with him. He was smart, he
was well-educated," Johnson said.

After the raid, Martin, still the conscientious lawyer, managed to
send Johnson money to reimburse clients he was unable to represent while
he was holed up in the compound. "That was his sense of responsibility
coming out."
[42]

Perry Jones

Perry Jones was Koresh's father-in-law. News reports described him as a
polite older man, bespectacled and somewhat frail, and well known at
various businesses in the Waco community. Jones was once called "the
kindest man and a perfect gentleman." "He was nice and he had good
manners," said Tim Jander, general manager of Star Tex Propane in Waco.

Jones died a slow and painful death after ATF agents shot him in the
abdomen.
[49]

Unsurprisingly, the feds decided that they did not want to hold the trials
of the surviving Branch Davidians in Waco. Instead they got a change of
venue to San Antonio, nearly 200 miles away, where the jury members would
be unlikely to have independent knowledge of the Davidians' character.

The Roden Gunfight

One incident which the government and press used to paint the Branch
Davidians as dangerous and violent was the gunfight with George Roden that
took place at Mt. Carmel in 1988. But it was George Roden who was
dangerous, violent, murderous and insane.

In 1984 a dispute arose between George Roden and David Koresh over
leadership of the Davidians. This culminated in Roden forcing Koresh and
his followers off of the Mt. Carmel property at gunpoint
[21]
. Koresh led his group to the city of Palestine, Texas
[26]
.

By late 1987 things were faring badly for George Roden. He had
almost no money, few followers, mounting debts and an angry Texas Supreme
Court Justice on his trail
[70]
. So Roden decided to conclusively settle the leadership dispute with
Koresh. He went to a graveyard and dug up the body of a man who had been
dead 25 years, put the casket in the Mt. Carmel chapel, and said that
whoever could raise this man from the dead was the one to lead the
Davidians.

Koresh reported the action to the Sheriff's Department. He was told
that his word alone wasn't enough -- proof was needed. So on November 3,
1987, Koresh and several men went out to Mt. Carmel to take pictures of
the body in the casket. The Sheriff had warned them to be careful,
because Roden was dangerous, so they armed themselves. The plan was to
open the casket, take the pictures, and leave, but Roden caught them, and
a gunfight ensued in which Roden was wounded
[64]
.

Koresh and seven other Davidians were charged with attempted murder
[20]
. Jack Harwell, McLennan County Sheriff, called Koresh on the phone and
informed him of the charges. He asked Koresh and the others to turn
themselves in, and to surrender their weapons. When deputies arrived at
Mount Carmel, Koresh and the other Davidians peacefully complied
[64]
. Officials traced the weapons and found that each was legally purchased
[22]
.

On March 21, 1988, Roden was served with a citation for contempt of
court. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith, Jr. sentenced him to six
months in jail for continuing to file expletive-filled motions threatening
the justices with AIDS and herpes, despite orders to cease and desist
[70]
,
[65]
,
[30]
.

On April 25, Koresh's seven followers were acquitted, and the jury
hung 9-3 in favor of Koresh's acquittal. The state then dropped the
charges against him
[68]
,
[20]
.

Koresh paid up 16 years of delinquent taxes on the Mount Carmel
property, which allowed him and his followers to move in
[68]
. Upon returning to the property they found a methamphetamine lab and
large piles of pornographic material. They burned the pornography and
reported the meth lab to the DA's office
[64]
.

Fifteen months after Koresh's trial, in the summer of 1989, Roden was
approached by a man who claimed to be the Messiah. Roden split the man's
head open with an ax
[67]
. Odessa police charged Roden with murder. The following year he was
found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to a state mental hospital
[10]
, where he remains to this day
[26]
.

Allegations of Child Abuse

Another tactic the federal government used to demonize the Davidians was
to accuse them of child abuse. These accusations originally arose from
Marc Breault, a former follower of Koresh who had a bitter falling out
with him. Breault quit the sect at the end of 1989 and moved to
Australia. He then threw himself into a campaign to discredit his former
mentor, in the process leading away most of the Australian members of the
sect.

In March 1990 Breault, his wife and a number of his Australian
followers swore out more than 30 pages of affidavits claiming that Koresh
was abusing children. A second set of affidavits was sworn out for use in
a child custody hearing in early 1992, in which a Michigan man named David
Jewell petitioned to gain custody of his daughter, then living at Mt.
Carmel with Jewell's ex-wife. However, the allegations were mostly
general and lacking in detail
[48]
.

Thus the allegations of child abuse sprung from two sources: (1) a
man who hated Koresh and was obsessed with discrediting him; and (2) a
child-custody dispute. Note that allegations of child abuse are a common
tactic in child-custody disputes.

As a result of Breault's efforts, local authorities began an
investigation of the child abuse charges. Officials of the Child
Protective Services division of the Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services, and the McLennan County sheriff's office, visited Mt.
Carmel in February and March 1992. They found no evidence of child abuse
[46]
.

On April 23, 1993, in response to the Clinton administration's
continued claims of child abuse, the Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services offered the following summary of its nine-week
investigation: "None of the allegations could be verified. The children
denied being abused in any way by any adults in the compound. They denied
any knowledge of other children being abused. The adults consistently
denied participation in or knowledge of any abuse to children.
Examinations of the children produced no indication of current or previous
injuries." Texas child protection officials also said they received no
further abuse allegations after that time
[48]
.

Breault had also contacted the FBI, accusing Koresh of a number of
other crimes besides child abuse. A February 23, 1993 FBI memo, obtained
by the Dallas Morning News, stated that no information had been developed
to verify the allegations of "child abuse and neglect, tax evasion,
slavery and reports of possible mass destruction."

The Clinton administration alleged that the Davidians were abusing
children during the siege of Mt. Carmel. This was contradicted by those
who actually saw the children. During the siege a man named Louis Alaniz
managed to sneak past federal officials to visit the Davidians (he was not
a Davidian himself). After leaving, he reported that the children at Mt.
Carmel appeared happy, playing and laughing continuously, and that there
were no outward signs of child abuse
[44]
.

Sheriff Jack Harwell, who was the only outside negotiator brought
into the Mount Carmel siege, said there was never any proof that children
were being abused inside the compound. None of the children who were
released from the compound, Harwell said, showed any signs of physical
abuse
[45]
.

According to Texas child protective services officials, none of the
21 children released to the authorities showed signs of abuse, and none of
them confirmed that any abuse was committed. The children were physically
and psychologically examined
[45]
,
[47]
. Dr. Bruce Perry, the head of the team treating the children, stated
flatly: "(N)one of the 21 children had been sexually abused or molested."
[69]

After the blaze that killed most of the Davidians, the Clinton
administration stepped up its "child abuse" offensive. White House
communications director George Stephanopoulos claimed that "there was
overwhelming evidence of child abuse in the Waco compound."
[39]
But this claim was contradicted by others within the federal government
itself.

FBI director William Sessions said his agency had "no contemporaneous
evidence" of child abuse in the compound during the siege
[48]
. "(T)here had been no recent reports of the beating of children." In
response to Janet Reno's claim of reports that "babies were being beaten,"
Sessions said, "I do not know what the attorney general was referring to
specifically."
[37]

The Justice Department itself put the lie to Clinton's and Reno's
wild accusations. In a report released in early October, the Justice
Department said there was no evidence of child abuse at the compound
during the siege or even enough evidence to arrest Koresh on such charges
before the February 28 raid
[5]
.

The Gun Arsenal

The press and the federal government made much of the Davidians'
collection of guns. President Clinton claimed the Davidians had
"illegally stockpiled weaponry and ammunition."
[1]
But there is no law limiting the number of legal weapons one may
accumulate. Furthermore, by Texas standards the Davidians' gun collection
was rather small. After the siege investigators found only 200 firearms
in the ruins of Mt. Carmel
[57]
, which amounts to about two guns per adult. But Texas' 17 million
residents own a total of 68 million guns, for an average of four guns
apiece, while 16,600 Texans legally own machine guns
[33]
.

The government also claimed that the Davidians were planning an
assault on Waco. This claim was based on third-hand information related
to ATF Special Agent Davy Aguilera, who filed the affidavit for the
original raid on Mt. Carmel. Aguilera had interviewed ATF Special Agent
Carlos Torres, who had interviewed Joyce Sparks, an investigator with the
Texas Department of Human Services. According to Aguilera's affidavit,
Torres told Aguilera that Sparks had told him that Koresh had told her
"that he was the `Messenger' from God, that the world was coming to an
end, and that when he `reveals' himself the riots in Los Angeles would
pale in comparison to what was going to happen in Waco, Texas."
Furthermore, this self-revelation "would be a `military type operation'
and... all the `non-believers' would have to suffer." Koresh supposedly
said this on Sparks' second and final visit to Mt. Carmel to investigate
child-abuse charges, on April 6, 1992
[63]
. But the LA riots broke out on April 29, more than three weeks after
Sparks last visited Koresh!

Enter the ATF

In Feb. 1982, the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a report that the ATF
had "disregarded rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the
United States." Illegal ATF actions included entrapment and secret
lawmaking via unpublished administrative interpretations of gun laws. The
report noted that "expert evidence was submitted establishing that
approximately 75 percent of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary
citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge, but were enticed
by agents into unknowing technical violations." In the wake of the
report, plans to abolish the agency were shelved after neither the U.S.
Customs Bureau nor the Secret Service would accept the transfer of the
discredited ATF agents into their organizations
[3]
.

The ATF acted true to form in its investigation of the Davidians --
the purpose of the raid appears to have been to bolster the ATF's image,
rather than any protection of the public safety. From Aguilera's
affidavit it appears that the ATF collected no reliable new information
for its investigation after June 23, 1992. But in mid-November "60
Minutes" began contacting ATF personnel about allegations of sexual
harrassment in the agency
[61]
. In early December the investigation picked up again, after a lapse of
5-1/2 months
[62]
.

On January 12, 1993 the segment aired. It presented allegations by
female ATF agents that they had been sexually harrassed on the job and
that the agency intimidated victims and witnesses who had pressed sexual
harrassment claims. Among the charges was one of near-rape: agent
Michelle Roberts charged that another agent had pinned her against the
hood of a car while two others tore at her clothes. ATF agent Bob Hoffman
told "60 Minutes" that he had verified the complaints of one female agent,
and said, "In my career with ATF, the people that I put in jail have more
honor than the top administration in this organization." Shortly
afterwards, there was also a front-page article in the The Washington Post
about racial discrimination in the ATF.

The "60 Minutes" story devastated both the public image and morale of
the ATF. ATF Director Stephen Higgins must have been in a panic. A
Republican appointee, he stood a good chance of losing his job with a
Democratic administration coming in. Even if he didn't, he was going to
have a rough time at the congressional budget hearings coming up on March
10. Said one high-level former ATF senior official who requested
anonymity, "The show had great repercussions within the bureau... (S)ome
(within the ATF) concluded that he (Higgins) was... looking for a
high-profile case to counteract the negative image and enable him to go to
the budget appropriations hearings with a strong hand."
[52]

This analysis was supported by a followup "60 Minutes" report on May
23. Based on statements from ATF agents, Mike Wallace concluded the
report by saying, "Waco was a publicity stunt, which was intended to
improve the ATF's tarnished image." Consistent with this interpretation,
the ATF notified the media before the raid
[50]
,
[56]
,
[35]
, and there were a large number of television and newspaper reporters at
the site on the morning of the raid
[50]
.

Appendix G of the Treasury Department report on Waco suggests
another, more disturbing motive for the raid. The appendix, entitled "A
Brief History of Federal Firearms Enforcement," contains the following
statement:

In a larger sense, however, the raid fit within an historic,
well-established and well-defended government interest in
prohibiting and breaking up all organized groups that sought
to arm or fortify themselves... From its earliest formation,
the federal government has actively suppressed any effort by
disgruntled or rebellious citizens to coalesce into an armed
group, however small the group, petty its complaint, or
grandiose its ambition.

In other words: regardless of whether you break any law, if some federal
official doesn't like your politics and thinks you have too many weapons,
you will be exterminated.

Serving the Warrant

On February 25 ATF Special Agent Davy Aguilera filed for and received a
warrant to search the premises of Mt. Carmel, claiming evidence of illegal
conversion of (legal) semiautomic weapons to automatic. Contrary to early
ATF claims, there was no arrest warrant for Koresh. The affidavit
supporting the warrant was seriously flawed, containing many inaccuracies
and patently false statements (such as the "LA riots" quote). According
to several legal experts, including a former ATF senior enforcement
official with more than 20 years' federal firearms experience, it is
questionable that the affidavit demostrated probable cause for a search
[51]
,
[58]
.

Steve Holbrook, an attorney in Washington, D.C. area, whose law
practice specializes in gun-related offenses, was unequivocal: "Probable
cause did not exist. There was evidence cited of a large quantity of
legal firearms and parts, including interchangeable parts... Nowhere in
the affidavit is it said all necessary parts and materials to convert
semiautomatic weapons into machine guns were obtained (by Koresh)."
[51]

The claimed violation itself is a tricky area of the law. "This is a
very, very convoluted, technical, angels-dancing-on- the-head-of-a-pin
kind of argument," says Robert Sanders, former enforcement chief of the
ATF. "And there are no published rulings telling you what is and isn't (a
violation)."
[62]

Importantly, this was not a no-knock search warrant, in which agents
may knock down doors and burst in heavily armed without prior warning to
occupants; such warrants must be specifically applied for, which the ATF
failed to do
[53]
. Nor was a no-knock approach necessary. As we have seen, Koresh and his
followers had peacefully cooperated with law enforcement officers on at
least three occasions in the past (once after the Roden gunfight, twice
during the child-abuse investigation). And in July 1992 Koresh had
actually invited ATF investigators to come out to Mt. Carmel and inspect
the Davidians' guns
[4]
,
[6]
,
[55]
, but he was angrily told "we don't want to do it that way."
[6]

Furthermore, the ATF knew that nearly all the guns at Mt. Carmel
were locked up and only Koresh had a key
[63]
. To avoid any possibility of armed resistance from the Davidians, they
could have simply detained Koresh during one of his frequent excursions
outside of Mt. Carmel
[18]
,
[29]
and had him unlock the store of guns in their presence.

Absent a no-knock warrant, U.S. law (Title 18, U.S.C. 3109) states
that an officer must give notice of his legal authority and purpose before
attempting to enter the premises to be searched. Only if admittance is
refused after giving such notice is it legal for an officer to use force
to gain entry. Said one former senior ATF official, "Irrespective of the
situation inside, the notice of authority and purpose must be given...
Unless the occupants of a dwelling are made aware that the persons
attempting to enter have legal authority and a legal warrant to enter, the
occupants have every right to defend themselves..."
[54]

Dick DeGuerin, a well-known Houston lawyer, put it more bluntly:
"...if a warrant is being unlawfully executed by the use of excessive
force, you or I or anybody else has a right to resist that unlawful force.
If someone's trying to kill you, even under the excuse that they have a
warrant, you have a right to defend yourself with deadly force, and to
kill that person."
[4]

It appears that the ATF never intended to serve the warrant in a
lawful manner. ATF agents told the Houston Post that before the raid they
had practiced to where it took 7 seconds to get out of their tarp-covered
cattle trailers and 12 seconds to get to the front door. It is absurd to
imagine that after such a mad dash to the door, the ATF agents intended to
stop, knock, calmly state their legal authority and purpose, demand entry,
and wait for a response, all before taking further action.

So how did the ATF serve its warrant? On Sunday morning, February
28, 1993, 100 federal agents arrived at Mt. Carmel in cattle cars and
helicopters. About 30 agents dressed in black commando uniforms and armed
with machine guns stormed the complex
[9]
,
[19]
. According to an Associated Press report, "Witnesses said the law
officers stormed the compound's main home, throwing concussion grenades
and screaming `Come out,' while three National Guard helicopters
approached."
[2]

Who Shot First?

The question of who shot first is in a sense irrelevant, as the ATF agents
clearly attacked first when they threw grenades at the Davidians' home.
Once the ATF used unlawful force, the Davidians had the legal right to
resist them with deadly force.

Nevertheless, the Davidians insist that ATF agents shot first. "They
fired on us first," Koresh told CNN. "...I fell back against the door and
the bullets started coming through the door... I was already hollering,
`Go away, there's women and children here, let's talk.'"
[19]
Davidians in another part of the city-block-sized complex said the battle
began when the helicopters circling overhead fired on them without warning
[13]
.

David Troy, ATF intelligence chief, said a videotape was taken of the
entire mission
[36]
. But although parts of this tape were released to the media, one
important part was not: the start of the raid. It seems unlikely the ATF
would have withheld this footage if it supported the ATF's contention that
the Davidians fired first.

There is evidence to support Koresh's version of events. Federal law
enforcement sources told Soldier of Fortune magazine the following:

* One ATF agent had an accidental discharge getting out of one
of two goose-necked cattle trailers used to transport and
conceal agents -- he wounded himself in the leg and cried out,
"I'm hit!"
[14]
Unless you have a very disciplined group, you
can expect all hell to break loose once any shot is fired; and
according to Charles Beckwith, a retired Army colonel and
founder of the military's antiterrorist Delta Force, the ATF's
raid was "very amateur."
[28]

* Steve Willis, one of the ATF agents killed in the raid, was
assigned to "take out" Koresh if necessary. When Koresh came
out, Willis began firing a suppressed MP5 SD submachine gun at
him from the passenger side of the leading pickup. Reporters
kept some distance away from the action would not have heard a
silenced MP5 SD, while the cattle trailer would likely have
blocked their view
[14]
,
[15]
.

The Assault

Concurrent with the attack on the front of the Mt. Carmel complex were two
other attacks on the Davidians.

According to Davidians who surrendered during the siege, the
helicopters circling overhead fired down through the roof into the
complex, killing one man and two women as they lay in their beds
[64][72]
.
The children, whose dormitory was on the second floor, crawled under their
beds as bullets ripped through the walls above them
[15]
,
[25]
. Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin viewed the inside of the complex after
the raid, when federal officials allowed him to meet with the Davidians
and try to persuade them to surrender. He reported seeing bullet holes on
the second storey, clearly coming from the outside in, at such an angle
that they could only have come from above the complex
[64]
.

Moments after the assault began, an 8-man ATF team began ascending
the roof near an upstairs window which they believed to be in the vicinity
of Koresh's bedroom and weapons locker
[12]
,
[15]
. Video footage of the raid shows the agents breaking the window, tossing
grenades inside, and indiscriminately spraying gunfire within.

A well-placed federal official told the Houston Post that at least 10
Davidians were killed in the battle. One of those confirmed dead was
Koresh's two-year-old daughter
[24]
. Another was Winston Blake, a 28-year-old printer, painter, and welder;
he was shot to death as he stood unarmed by the complex's water tank
[40]
.

Four ATF agents were killed in the gunfight, and numerous wounded.
Dan Hartnett, associate director of the ATF, claimed that the ATF suffered
heavy casualties because of strict rules of engagement that prohibit
shooting without a definite target. "We had to wait for a target because
there are so many women and children inside," he said. But broadcast
video of the raid shows agents exercising poor fire control, firing over
vehicles with little or no view of what they were shooting at, at a rate
of two rounds per second
[11]
,
[27]
.

The ATF's concern for the women and children inside was further
demonstrated by their use of the "9 mm. Cyclone" round in their submachine
guns. This highly-penetrating round is available only to law-enforcement
special operations teams and the military, and is specifically designed to
cut through body armor
[17]
.

Two separate federal sources told Soldier of Fortune magazine that
such a round was removed from a wounded ATF agent, and that many, if not
most, of the ATF casualties resulted from "friendly fire."
[17]
Newsweek also reported that a federal source involved in the Waco
situation said that "there is evidence that supports the theory of
friendly fire," and that during the assault "there was a huge amount of
cross-fire."
[8] Furthermore, in the released video footage
of the raid, there is little or no evidence of return fire from the
Davidians.

The attack terrified the Davidians, and they were eager for a
cease-fire. Wayne Martin telephoned his friend, Waco city councilman
Lawrence Johnson. According to Johnson, Martin said "they were in a
firefight, they were taking casualties, and a lot of people were hurt. He
asked me to contact the media."
[42]
The New York Times reported that after capturing four federal agents, the
Davidians disarmed and released them during the firefight. And both
Martin and Koresh phoned 911 about the attack.

ABC broadcast portions of the 911 tapes on its Nightline program.
Martin phoned first and spoke with Lieutenant Lynch of the Waco Sheriff's
Department. He told Lynch, "There's about 75 men around our building and
they're shooting it up in Mt. Carmel... Tell them there are women and
children in here and to call it off!" Calling it off took some time.
During a later return phone call, even as Lynch and Martin were trying to
arrange the cease-fire, Martin's location was receiving heavy gunfire and
Martin himself was hit. When requested not to return fire, an
unidentified Davidian replied in a disgusted tone, "We haven't been."
[7]

In the end, it was not humanitarian concerns or negotiations that
brought an end to the hour-long assault; it was lack of ammunition. The
100 agents who participated in the assault had a total of only 40 rounds
left among them when they finally backed off
[16]
.

References

1.
Press conference given by President Clinton in Washington,
D
C., on April 20, 1993, 1:36 p.m. EDT.

64.
Speech by Ron Engleman on the Waco Massacre. Engleman was a
Dallas radio talk-show host whom the Davidians requested as
a negotiator during the siege
Engleman's speech was based
on his own experiences and interviews with others
A
videotape of the speech may be obtained from Libertarian
Party of Dallas County, P
O. Box 64832, Dallas, TX 75206.